Battlefield 6 launched yesterday and seems to be a huge hit with about 750,000 concurrent players on steam (which isn’t the only PC platform to get it from) which is a huge launch.
People are claiming it’s a return to form as a peak battlefield game comparable to BF3 and I think I agree. It’s modern day (technically 2027) so the weapons are pretty familiar though the story with the warring factions is a little silly – not that it matters. I think NATO vs Russia/China might’ve been more fun aesthetically and in terms of vehicles.
The game is beautiful, immersive, performs well, and is relatively bug free. A good launch. The maps have plenty of detail and the destruction is very good. There are a lot of game modes – the large modes include the classic conquest, breakthrough (sector by sector attack/defense) and escalation which is a variant of conquest I’m not sure about yet. Conquest and escalation are 64 players, I think breakthrough is 48. There’s a medium sized game mode (rush) and several smaller infantry focused modes like domination and what would be headquarters in Call of Duty, as well as a team deathmatch and a squad deathmatch (4 4-man squads in a free for all deathmatch).
I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. It feels good. I haven’t had much chance to unlock many gadgets or try different classes yet. But it’s full of aesthetically pleasing, immersive elements and chaotic destruction that works really well. There’s really nothing like it in terms of scale and immersiveness.
The squad system and flexible spawn system from previous battlefield games remains. One nice touch I really like is that when you’re reviving squadmates you can grab them by the collar and drag them to safety while you’re doing it. It looks cool and it’s useful.
My main complaint so far is that most of the modes/maps don’t have enough vehicles. They seem to want the game to be 90%+ infantry focused and so sometimes it feels like you’re running around playing a (better) call of duty infantry match with just an occasional armed transport or maybe an IFV. Conquest, which should be very vehicle heavy, isn’t for most maps. I have no problem having infantry focused game modes and maps, but it shouldn’t be as much of the game as it is.
Escalation seems to be the most vehicle-heavy of the modes. More vehicles are unlocked as the game progresses, so by the end it starts feeling like a proper battlefield game (2-3 tanks, 2-3 IFVs, transport helicopters, attack helicopters, attack jets, fighter jets, various transports) but that seems to be the only mode that consistently features a heavy vehicle presence. Conquest probably has a few vehicle-heavy maps that I haven’t had a chance to try yet.
I hate lock-on weapons in non-sim video games. It’s just boring gameplay to point in the general direction of a vehicle for 7 seconds until you get a tone, and if they have countermeasures it does nothing, and if they don’t it automatically hits them. I think that’s terrible gameplay. People should be using skill to shoot vehicles. But it’s not really any different in that regard from BF3/4. It’s just the worst aspect of the gameplay.
The sound seems pretty good but not as good as Battlefield 3 which had some of the best sound design in any game ever. I don’t know why if you put so much effort into creating such a great sound system / samples you don’t just keep using the same thing in sequels.
All of the Battlefield 5 trailers are kind of obnoxious but here’s the one I hate the least.
I’ll post more thoughts as I play more. If anyone is interested in playing together I’ll try to coordinate squads sometimes. Hit me up on steam (whether we’re already friends or you can find me on there, same name).
